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<h1><a name="SECTION0017800000000000000000">
15.8 <tt class="module">rlcompleter</tt> --
         Completion function for GNU readline</a>
</h1>

<p>
<a name="module-rlcompleter"></a>

<p>
The <tt class="module">rlcompleter</tt> module defines a completion function suitable for
the <tt class="module"><a href="module-readline.html">readline</a></tt> module by completing valid Python identifiers
and keywords.

<p>
When this module is imported on a <span class="Unix">Unix</span> platform with the <tt class="module">readline</tt>
module available, an instance of the <tt class="class">Completer</tt> class is automatically
created and its <tt class="method">complete</tt> method is set as the <tt class="module">readline</tt>
completer.

<p>
Example:

<p>
<div class="verbatim"><pre>
&gt;&gt;&gt; import rlcompleter
&gt;&gt;&gt; import readline
&gt;&gt;&gt; readline.parse_and_bind("tab: complete")
&gt;&gt;&gt; readline. &lt;TAB PRESSED&gt;
readline.__doc__          readline.get_line_buffer  readline.read_init_file
readline.__file__         readline.insert_text      readline.set_completer
readline.__name__         readline.parse_and_bind
&gt;&gt;&gt; readline.
</pre></div>

<p>
The <tt class="module">rlcompleter</tt> module is designed for use with Python's
interactive mode.  A user can add the following lines to his or her
initialization file (identified by the <a class="envvar" id='l2h-3510' xml:id='l2h-3510'>PYTHONSTARTUP</a>
environment variable) to get automatic <kbd>Tab</kbd> completion:

<p>
<div class="verbatim"><pre>
try:
    import readline
except ImportError:
    print "Module readline not available."
else:
    import rlcompleter
    readline.parse_and_bind("tab: complete")
</pre></div>

<p>
On platforms without <tt class="module">readline</tt>, the <tt class="class">Completer</tt> class defined
by this module can still be used for custom purposes.

<p>

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<span class="release-info">Release 2.5.1, documentation updated on 18th April, 2007.</span>
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